If Mayfair's Kendall Small hits his first jumper of the game, it's a dreadful sign for the opponent.

On Saturday night, Small hit his first two jumpers. And all signs read “Warning” for Poly.

In front of a packed house, Small scored 34 points to lead fourth-seeded Mayfair over No. 5 seed Poly, 82-73, in the second round of the CIF State Division I playoffs Saturday.

It was the kind of virtuoso performance at which coaches, fans and scouts in attendance marveled.

“It was amazing,” Mayfair coach Tony Davis said after the game. “It was an all-around performance. I don't think we could have asked for anything more.”

College scouts and coaches, notably one from Oregon, shook their heads as Small put on a scoring clinic, chock full of tricky layups and long jumpers.

“We wanted to pressure him and make him take tough shots, but he made tough shots,” Poly coach Shelton Diggs said. “He's a high-level Division I guard, and he showed it on the court.”

The Oregon coach agreed, saying that Small “could play at any school in the country.”

After he scored nine points in the first quarter, and Mayfair leading 22-14 going into the second, Poly began pressuring Small up the court, attempting to deny him the ball, and had some success. Although Small scored seven in the quarter, Poly was able to slow the game down and convert some buckets in transition.

Jackrabbits junior point guard Ke'Jhan Feagin scored eight in the quarter, including two 3-pointers in the final 1:20 of the half that gave Poly a 42-39 lead with seconds left in the half. But a driving layup by Small in the closing seconds cut the Poly lead to one going into halftime. More importantly, it represented a sign of things to come.

“My teammates kept telling me to go to the basket and take over,” Small said. “So I just followed what they told me.”

Small was dominant in the third. Extremely dominant.

After missing a 3 to open the quarter, Small got on the board with a breakaway layup and two free throws two minutes into the quarter.

With the teams trading baskets for the next few minutes, and Poly leading 50-48, Small attacked the basket and was fouled by Poly senior guard Jeff Calhoun, who went to block Small's shot.

Despite the foul call, Calhoun yelled the customary, “Get that out of here.”

Small looked at Calhoun and mumbled something before going to the line.

The “Warning” sign was back in effect.

After making one of two free throws, Small hit a 3 on Mayfair's next possession.

On Poly's next possession, he took a charge from Jackrabbits' senior guard Chris Sullivan. Seconds later, Small attacked the rim and was fouled again, this time converting both free throws.

With two minutes left in the third, Poly junior center Jordan Dallas went to the line to shoot two.

He missed the second and Small grabbed the rebound and dribbled up the court. The Monsoons missed a 3, but Small was there for the offensive rebound. He quickly threw a no-look pass to a teammate, who scored an easy layup.

A minute later, Small grabbed another rebound off a Poly miss and pushed down the court. He was fouled by Dallas and went to the line, making one of two.

Going into the fourth, with Mayfair leading 59-57, Small had 27 points, 11 of which came in the third quarter.

Mayfair scored the first six points of the fourth quarter before a 3 by Poly senior guard Kameron Murrell cut the lead to 65-60 with 4:43 to go.

On the Monsoons' next possession, a fan yelled from the stands, “Where's Kendall?” as someone other than Small brought the ball up.

As if he heard the fan, Small grabbed an offensive rebound off a Mayfair miss and dribbled the ball out to the top of the key. He was swarmed by Poly defenders but escaped the trap and hit a sweet up-and-under layup on Dallas.

The crowd went nuts. Small had 31 points.

“Every time a play was made, on offense or defense, it seemed like he had the ball or was around the ball, and made things happen all night long,” Davis said of Small.

Mayfair pulled away for an 82-73 victory. After the game, the normally stoic Small was more cheery than usual.

“It felt good,” Small said of the win. “It was the first time I played Poly in my career. Everyone contributed to the win.

“We're really excited, especially because last year they beat us by 50. We've heard they were talking a lot of gibberish over there. So we had to come in here and show them what's up.”

In the second round of last season's CIF playoffs, Poly defeated Mayfair, 73-28.

Poly, known for its normally stingy defense, simply had no answer for Small.

“We didn't keep (Small) and their guards under control and out of the paint,” Diggs said. “We gave up too many points. We're not going to win a game like that, that's in the 80s. We need to keep it in the 50s.”

As boisterous as the crowd was, one Poly fan in particular, Small said that the talking on the court was at a minimum.

Small, who was introduced pregame as “Mr. Biggs,” had a different idea on how to get the Monsoon's point across.

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